oval

See also: Oval and ovál

English

Etymology

From Late Latin ovalis, from ovum; cognate with French and Italian ovale, Dutch ovaal. From 1570.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈəʊvəl/

  • Audio (Southern England)

    (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈoʊvəl/
• Rhymes: -əʊvəl

Noun

oval (plural ovals)

1. An elongated round shape resembling an egg or ellipse.
2. A thing having such a shape, such as an arena.
3. (mathematics) In a projective plane, a set of points such that no three are collinear and there is a unique tangent line at each point.
4. (Australia) A sports field, typically but not exclusively oval in shape.

Derived terms

• Cassinian oval
• Cassini oval
• flat oval
• hyperoval
• oval of Cassini
• oval squid
• oval window
• roval
• tri-oval

 

Translations

shape like an egg or ellipse

• Arabic: إِهْلِيلَج (ʔihlīlaj)
• Armenian: օվալ (hy) (ōval)
• Asturian: óvalu (ast) m
• Azerbaijani: oval
• Belarusian: ава́л m (avál)
• Bengali: ডিম্বাকার (ḍimbakar), উপবৃত্তাকার (bn) (upobrittakar)
• Bulgarian: овал m (oval)
• Catalan: oval (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 卵形 (zh) (luǎnxíng), 橢圓形／椭圆形 (zh) (tuǒyuánxíng)

• Czech: ovál m
• Danish: oval c
• Dutch: ovaal (nl)
• Esperanto: ovalo
• Estonian: ovaal
• Finnish: ovaali (fi), soikio (fi)
• French: ovale (fr) m
• Georgian: ოვალი (ovali)
• German: Oval (de) n
• Greek: ωόδης m or f (oódis)

  Ancient: θυρεός m (thureós), ᾠώδης (ōiṓdēs), ᾠοειδής (ōioeidḗs)

• Greenlandic: tumaasaavoq
• Hebrew: אוּבָל (he)
• Hindi: अंडाकार (hi) m (aṇḍākār)
• Hungarian: ovális (hu), tojásidom
• Irish: ubhchruth m
• Italian: ovale (it) m
• Japanese: 卵形 (ja) (らんけい, rankei, たまごがた, tamagogata), 楕円形 (ja) (だえんけい, daenkei) (ellipse)
• Kazakh: сопақша (sopaqşa), сопақ (sopaq)
• Korean: 타원 (ko) (tawon), 달걀꼴 (dalgyalkkol)
• Kyrgyz: узунча тегерек (uzunca tegerek), сүйрү (ky) (süyrü)
• Latvian: ovāls m
• Lithuanian: ovalas m
• Macedonian: овал m (oval)
• Maori: porotītaha, porohema
• Navajo: heeneezgo názbąs
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: oval (no) m

  Nynorsk: oval m

• Polish: owal (pl) m
• Portuguese: ovoide (pt) m
• Romanian: oval (ro) n
• Russian: ова́л (ru) m (ovál)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: овал m

  Roman: oval (sh) m

• Slovak: ovál (sk) m
• Slovene: oval m
• Spanish: óvalo (es) m
• Swedish: oval (sv) c
• Tagalog: habilog
• Turkish: oval (tr)
• Ukrainian: ова́л (uk) m (ovál)
• Uzbek: oval (uz)
• Vietnamese: hình trái xoan (vi)
• Welsh: hirgrwn (cy) m

Adjective

oval (comparative more oval, superlative most oval)

1. Having the shape of an oval.
2. Of or pertaining to an ovum.
   • 1901, Havelock Ellis, Sexual inversion, page 187:

     Every congenital abnormality is doubtless due to a peculiarity in the sperm or oval elements or in their mingling, or to some disturbance in their early development.

   oval conceptions

Usage notes

Any of the English adjectives derived from Latin ovum (including oval, ovate, ovoid) are typically considered synonymous when referring to egg-like shapes where one end is wider than the other but, out of all of them, oval is the most likely to be used in reference to a symmetrical ellipse.

Synonyms

• ovular, ovate, ovoid, ovaline, elliptical, egg-shaped

Derived terms

• bioval
• circumoval
• ovaline
• ovalish
• ovally
• perioval
• plurioval
• monoval
• unioval

Translations

oval-shaped

• Arabic: إِهْلِيلَجِيّ (ʔihlīlajiyy), بَيْضَوِيّ m (bayḍawiyy)
• Armenian: ձվաձեւ (hy) (jvajew)
• Asturian: ovaláu (ast), oval (ast)
• Bengali: ডিম্বাকার (ḍimbakar), উপবৃত্তাকার (bn) (upobrittakar)
• Bulgarian: овален (bg) (ovalen)
• Catalan: oval (ca)
• Czech: oválný (cs)
• Dutch: ovaal (nl), eivormig (nl)
• Esperanto: ovala
• Finnish: soikea (fi)
• French: ovale (fr)
• Galician: oval
• German: oval (de)
• Greek: ωοειδής (el) (ooeidís)

  Ancient: ᾠοειδής (ōioeidḗs), ᾠώδης (ōiṓdēs)

• Hebrew: סְגַלְגַּל (he) (s'galgál), אוֹבָלִי (he) (ováli)
• Hungarian: ovális (hu), tojásdad (hu)
• Interlingua: oval
• Irish: ubhach, ubhchruthach
• Italian: ovale (it)
• Korean: 타원형 (ko) (tawonhyeong)
• Maori: porotītaha
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: oval (no), avlang

  Nynorsk: oval, avlang

• Persian: خایه‌دیس (xâye-dis)
• Polish: owalny (pl)
• Portuguese: oval (pt), ovoide (pt), ovalado
• Russian: ова́льный (ru) m (oválʹnyj), ова́льная (ru) f (oválʹnaja), ова́льное (ru) n (oválʹnoje)
• Spanish: oval (es), ovalado (es)
• Swedish: oval (sv)
• Turkish: oval (tr)
• Welsh: hirgrwn (cy) m, hirgron (cy) f
• Yiddish: אָוואַל (oval)
• Yoruba: ọ̀gbún

of or pertaining to an ovum

• Catalan: ovular (ca)
• Portuguese: ovular

See also

• ovoid
• ovum

Anagrams

• vola

Asturian

Adjective

oval (epicene, plural ovales)

1. oval (oval-shaped)

Synonyms

• ovaláu

Catalan

Etymology

From ou +‎ -al.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central) [uˈβal]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic, Valencian) [oˈval]

Adjective

oval m or f (masculine and feminine plural ovals)

1. oval

   Synonym: ovalat

Noun

oval m (plural ovals)

1. oval

Related terms

• ovoide

Further reading

• “oval” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “oval”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2024
• “oval” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “oval” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

Danish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /oˈvæˀl/

Noun

oval c (singular definite ovalen, plural indefinite ovaler)

1. oval (shape)
2. oval (object)

Declension

Declension of oval

common gender	Singular		Plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	oval	ovalen	ovaler	ovalerne
genitive	ovals	ovalens	ovalers	ovalernes

Adjective

oval (neuter ovalt, plural and definite singular attributive ovale)

1. oval

Inflection

Inflection of oval
	Positive	Comparative	Superlative
Indefinte common singular	oval	—	—2
Indefinite neuter singular	ovalt	—	—2
Plural	ovale	—	—2
Definite attributive1	ovale	—	—
1) When an adjective is applied predicatively to something definite, the corresponding "indefinite" form is used. 2) The "indefinite" superlatives may not be used attributively.

References

• “oval” in Den Danske Ordbog

German

Pronunciation

• Audio

  (file)

Adjective

oval (strong nominative masculine singular ovaler, comparative ovaler, superlative am ovalsten)

1. oval

   Synonyms: eiförmig, eirund

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

From Latin ovalis, from ovum (“egg”).

Pronunciation

• Audio

  (file)

Adjective

oval (neuter singular ovalt, definite singular and plural ovale)

1. oval

Noun

oval m (definite singular ovalen, indefinite plural ovaler, definite plural ovalene)

1. an oval

Derived terms

• ovalformet

References

• “oval” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

From Latin ovalis, from ovum (“egg”).

Adjective

oval (neuter singular ovalt, definite singular and plural ovale)

1. oval

Noun

oval m (definite singular ovalen, indefinite plural ovalar, definite plural ovalane)

1. an oval

References

• “oval” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Portuguese

Pronunciation

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /oˈvaw/ [oˈvaʊ̯]

 

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ɔˈval/ [ɔˈvaɫ]

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ɔˈval/ [ɔˈvaɫ]
  • (Northern Portugal) IPA^(key): /ɔˈbal/ [ɔˈβaɫ]
  • (Southern Portugal) IPA^(key): /ɔˈva.li/

• Rhymes: (Portugal) -al, (Brazil) -aw
• Hyphenation: o‧val

Adjective

oval m or f (plural ovais)

1. oval (shaped like an egg)

   Synonyms: ovalado, ovoide

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French ovale.

Adjective

oval m or n (feminine singular ovală, masculine plural ovali, feminine and neuter plural ovale)

1. oval

Declension

Declension of oval

		singular			plural
		masculine	neuter	feminine	masculine	neuter	feminine
nominative/ accusative	indefinite	oval		ovală	ovali	ovale
	definite	ovalul		ovala	ovalii	ovalele
genitive/ dative	indefinite	oval		ovale	ovali	ovale
	definite	ovalului		ovalei	ovalilor	ovalelor

Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /oˈbal/ [oˈβ̞al]
• Rhymes: -al
• Syllabification: o‧val

Adjective

oval m or f (masculine and feminine plural ovales)

1. oval (shaped like an oval)

   Synonym: ovalado

Related terms

• huevo
• ovalado
• óvalo
• ovoide

 

Further reading

• “oval”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014

Swedish

Adjective

oval (not comparable)

1. oval (having an elongated round shape)

Declension

Inflection of oval
Indefinite	Positive	Comparative	Superlative2
Common singular	oval	—	—
Neuter singular	ovalt	—	—
Plural	ovala	—	—
Masculine plural3	ovale	—	—
Definite	Positive	Comparative	Superlative
Masculine singular1	ovale	—	—
All	ovala	—	—
1) Only used, optionally, to refer to things whose natural gender is masculine. 2) The indefinite superlative forms are only used in the predicative. 3) Dated or archaic

See also

• elliptisk

Noun

oval c

1. an oval (elongated round shape)

Declension

Declension of oval
	Singular		Plural
	Indefinite	Definite	Indefinite	Definite
Nominative	oval	ovalen	ovaler	ovalerna
Genitive	ovals	ovalens	ovalers	ovalernas

See also

• ellips

References

• oval in Svensk ordbok (SO)
• oval in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
• oval in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)